Scavenger: Caches and Prizes is finally in print again at DriveThruRPG. https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/pro.....hes-and-Prizes

There's also a slightly cheaper B&W version at Barnes and Noble's site, as well as you know which site. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sc.....man/1148200335

Scavenger: Caches and Prizes is finally in print again at DriveThruRPG. There's also a slightly cheaper B&W version at Barnes and Noble's site, as well as you know which site.

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The Wednesday before Halloween I woke up with this intense stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen. After an hour or so of enduring this pain, and throwing up at least once, I started to worry that I had appendicitis and called an ambulance to take me to the emergency room.

After a CT scan they found that I was just passing a kidney stone.

Today I found out that I really should have gotten a Lyft, that five minute ambulance ride will cost me almost fifteen hundred dollars, plus another $100 for the ER. American healthcare is just insane.

So, I would appreciate whatever you can chip in to help. I'm also selling some stuff on ebay and my books are as always on the major self-publishing sites. Joanna: Ghost Hunter vol 1 is sold by Fenris Publishing. Unfortunately the printed color version of Scavenger: Caches and Prizes is currently unavailable due to DriveThruRPG taking forever to approve printed works, but if you're okay with a slightly cheaper greyscale version the 'Zon and Barnes and Noble have you covered.

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On the 6th some teenager rear-ended me on the highway, and this week my insurance finally declared my ten-year old Kia a total loss. I have a new (used) car now, which'll add another $300 to my monthly bills.

Any help, whether it's through Ko-Fi, Patreon, or buying my various books would be appreciated. Scavenger: Caches and Prizes is available on an ebook on Itch, DriveThruRPG, and an array of other ebook sites including the "Zon" but print is still giving me issues.

Additionally, Joanna: Ghost Hunter will be coming back soon, volume 1 is still available on Fenris.

Lastly, I'm preparing a new serialized story starring my new characters Jarlan and Kailyn in a "solo" Scavenger campaign. I'm considering adding some audience participation element where backers will be allowed to decide on some of their actions.

What do you think of that suggestion?

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I'll be attending the Digital Villainy Summit again this weekend, both as a dealer and a panelist running a panel on worldbuilding supervillain universes on Friday at 13:00 Eastern time.

Also, Friday through Sunday all my titles on DriveThruRPG and Itch will be 20% off, including my new furry sci-fi RPG Scavenger: Caches and Prizes.

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I thought it would help to include an example of character creation in Scavenger: Caches and Prizes. Since Horizon's story takes place in the same time period as the game's default setting I used her.

A player decides they want a raccoon pilot named Tanya Loter. For characteristics they roll a 9, 5, 7, 6, 3, and 7, they decide to assign the 9 to Intelligence, since flying a spacecraft would presumably require a lot of smarts, giving her a +1 DM to INT throws, 5 to STR, 7 to DEX and END, 6 to EDU, and 3 for SOC, her player’s not that concerned with social standing (577963). The campaign takes place in the Tiere system (Ch. 14), so taking a look at the planets in the system the player decides that the Orbital Alliance of Jord sounds like a good origin point for Tanya. As a Pallene culture she can choose between Aircraft-1, Computer-1, or Streetwise-1 for an upbringing skill, the player decides on Aircraft.

Next, it’s time to design her phenotype. Jord is a temperate Terra-sized world but Tanya spent much of her early life on space stations orbiting the planet. So while her favored atmosphere and temperature are Terran and Temperate, her player chooses a Light gravity to represent the limited access to spin gravity on such post-Federation stations. There is a list of common Procyon traits and Tanya’s player consults it to pick the Climb, Iron Stomach, and Notable (DEX) traits, increasing her DEX to 9 (597963); and picks the Increased Metabolism adaptation in order to compensate for the third trait.

Now for her career. Tanya’s player thinks Navy would help build her piloting skills so they throw INT to qualify, they roll a 7, modified to 8 with the DM, which is enough to succeed. They’re using the basic training variant rule so Tanya gets all the Service skills at rank 0 and then throws 1D on the Specialist table, getting Piloting at rank 1. Advancement is next and a failure, but not that big a deal. Next she throws survival, and comes up snake eyes, fortunately they’re not doing hardcore mode so she just roll on the Mishaps table. With a 4 Tanya is dishonorably discharged from the Navy. Her player isn’t quite ready to start yet, so they try for Belter this time. Qualification is easy enough, for skills they get Piloting again on the Service table, bringing her rank in that skill up to 2. This time they’re successful on advancement, gaining the skill Zero-G-1 and making another skill throw, gaining Engineering from the Specialist table. Survival is close, with a roll of 6 they wouldn’t have made it without the Notable DEX trait.

At this point Tanya’s player is ready to go adventuring. They lost their Mustering Out Benefit throw for the Navy term but they still get one for Belter. The dice come up 6, meaning Tanya starts out with a 40-year old Prospector.

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As you may have noticed from following my Kickstarter, Scavenger: Caches and Prizes successfully funded in April. Since then I've been working on the rulebook, writing rules and systems and commissioning illustrators. I attempted to get a playtest started, but then I started a new day job which was second shift, when most people play TTRPGs.

So I'm opening Scavenger up to public playtesting, you don't have to be familiar with the Para-Imperium setting or the Traveller system to GM but it would help. If you're interested contact me on Discord.

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Well, Scavenger: Caches and Prizes successfully funded.

69 backers raised $2,690 between them.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joel-kreissman/scavenger-caches-and-prizes

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joel-kreissman/scavenger-caches-and-prizes

The Kickstarter I launched to commission illustrators and layout formatters is on its last day. Thanks to my district manager re-assigning me at the last minute I'll be working an 11-hour shift at the busiest office in the city when it ends.

Last I checked funding was at 68%.

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The Kickstarter campaign for my old-school style sci-fi RPG set in the Para-Imperium setting is winding down.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joel-kreissman/scavenger-caches-and-prizes

Hope's not lost if it fails to make the last $945 by Saturday evening, but I'll have to use stock art for most of the illustrations.

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Alright, we've got thirteen days to go, and we're 48% funded. I'm seriously hoping for another big push towards the end.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...../posts/4349503

I also thought I'd talk about one of the features of the Para-Imperium setting, the Core Cultures. The Federation was founded as an alliance of three star systems, the Core Worlds, populated by the descendants of four colony ships that had left the Solar system 800 years previously. These Core Worlds then used the Federation's wormholes to spread out and establish new colonies in dozens of star systems.

While Game Masters (or "Referees" in Traveller parlance) are encouraged to develop their own star systems and planets, the majority of worlds in the setting are populated by some combination of those Core Cultures. They will be detailed more in later updates, but for now I'll summarize each of them.

Pallene: Hailing from New Pallas in the Alpha Centauri system, the Pallene developed the matter conversion and wormhole technologies that enabled the Federation to be built. Their democratic ideals were undermined by the influence of their Great Houses, however.

Cetans: From the Tau Ceti system. Formerly a feudal society divided into different species-based clans, Pallene influence led them to establish a constitutional monarchy but after the Collapse they've begun to backslide.

Eridani: A vast corporation from Epsilon Eridani whose company colonies have managed to persist after the loss of galactic trade. When they don't fall to disenfranchised employee revolts.

Neo-Vestan: Historical revisionists who idolize the extinct culture of the second colony ship to settle Alpha Centauri. Their clone armies have taken advantage of the Collapse to seize many colonies out of a desire for "revenge" against the Pallene and their Federation.

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Okay, I thought that was the "submit for approval" button but apparently I already did that part.

Scavenger: Caches and Prizes is now live! http://kck.st/4iPwHvP

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As some of you might know, in July I lost my regular job of the past twelve years when the company ran out of money to pay my department with and laid everyone off.

Since then I've been trying to get a new job, unfortunately my last job used extremely proprietary software and everyone else doing something even remotely like it seems to be using LLMs. While the Biotech type jobs I actually studied for in college will give me an interview, and then pick someone with a more recent degree or non-academic experience in the field. I tried DoorDash and Instacart for a few months and even opened commissions for short stories.

Somehow I got offered a seasonal job at H&R Block helping people file their taxes, which pays almost as much as my old job, but only lasts until mid-April (taxes are due April 15th in the US, for those who don't have to deal with this byzantine nightmare). The first few weeks nobody was coming in and all I had to do was call up past clients asking them to make appointments, then people started receiving their W-2s.

For the past week I've been seeing clients back to back for hours at a time, working six days a week, about to start a 13-day streak with no days off. And I was originally assigned to an office just 8 miles from home but it's behind schedule for renovations so they had me bouncing between three of the other offices in the area for a while before assigning me to an office 21 miles away that takes half an hour to reach when traffic cooperates. Fortunately I was able to convince my manager (one of the few times I'm in the same office as her) to get rid of the split shifts that had me in two different offices on different sides of town in one day.

And then there's the clients, the majority of mine so far have been single mothers, caretakers of permanently disabled people, or both. I'd like to be able to help them, but half the time I wind up telling them they owe the government money, and H&R Block charges them $300+ on top of that.

I'm not going to ask for commissions, because I won't have time to write them, but if you can chip in to my Patreon or Ko-Fi or buy one of my published books every little bit will help. I've burned through most of my unemployment insurance already and I don't have any other jobs lined up. I was hoping to launch a Kickstarter for my Para-Imperium RPG later this year, but after receiving the first sales report for the print edition of Joanna: Ghost Hunter I don't think I have the fanbase to sustain such a venture.

As always, you can find all my links at Carrd: https://zarpaulus.carrd.co/

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After years of fiddling with the Para-Imperium or Parahuman Space setting, I have the bones of a roleplaying game set in the setting using the Cepheus system.

Tentatively titled Salvaged Heroes: Wreckage of Empire, this game takes place in the post-Federation era, just like Horizon’s story. The default assumption will be that your characters will be scrappers hunting for shipwrecks and abandoned bases containing valuable technology or resources. Your character options include a jaded spacer, a grizzled ex-soldier, a curious scientist, a bored oligarch’s child, or even a technomage wielding technology beyond anyone’s understanding. The party may even have a ship, which they can customize using Cepheus’ tried-and-true ship-building system.

The Cepheus system is an OGL fork of Mongoose Publishing’s first edition of Traveller, the modern version of one of the oldest sci-fi RPGs. It uses a simple 2D6 system where most checks are made by rolling two six-sided dice and adding your characteristic and skill modifiers, typically succeeding on a total of 8 or higher. Instead of having “classes” and “levels” your character’s skills are primarily determined by a “Lifepath” system in which you roll to determine their life experience and training up to the start of the adventure. This means that PCs start out with a bit of seasoning and are relatively competent in the areas of their expertise.

The System Reference Document is free to read here if you’re interested: https://www.orffenspace.com/cepheus-srd/index.html

That said, like in many “Old-School” games, combat is lethal. Most PCs will only be able to survive one or two hits without heavy armor. In the older editions of Traveller PCs could famously die during character creation, though at most you’ll only wind up with some expensive prosthetics in Salvaged Heroes (unless you want to play hardcore). In the course of your adventures you might also discover Federation medical technology that can increase your survivability.

After finding your first FedTech wreck your campaign might head in a variety of new directions. You could be like Horizon and become super soldiers, drafted into an interstellar invasion. Or you might be Federation survivors newly awakened from cryo-stasis, seeking to make a way for yourself in the strange new world you’ve discovered. Perhaps you’re residents of a primitive world trying to build a functioning spaceship so you can leave. Or you’re indentured employees seeking a way to escape your corporate masters. The possibilities are endless!

Changes from the SRD: To fit the Parahuman Space setting, I had to change some things in the Cepheus System Reference.

Parahumans: Traveller/Cepheus assumes humans or human-like characters, with aliens generally included as a kludged-in afterthought. I’ve developed a system where players can build their own parahuman or xenosophont characters out of a set of Genetic Traits and Metabolic Adaptations. You’ll even be able to add or remove traits with sufficiently advanced technology.

Tech Levels: Traveller generally assumes that artificial gravity and faster-than-light travel will be discovered long before (Tech Level 9) cybernetic and genetic augmentation (TL 11). Biotech is central to the Para-Imperium, while gravity control doesn’t appear until very late in the Federation’s reign and FTL is flat-out impossible, so I shifted the former down to TL 9 (near future) while the latter is at TL 12. Prototype FedTech can go up to TL 13 while some advanced successor states (such as the Ronkalli) and the Destroyers can reach TL 15.

Rockets: By default Traveller ships use reactionless drives based on gravity control to maneuver at sub-light speeds. Since I moved gravity control up to TL 12 the majority of spaceships in Salvaged Heroes use nuclear reaction drives. Traveller has rules for reaction drives, but they use a lot of fuel, with most ships only capable of carrying enough for a few hours of thrust. But while writing an article on sub-light travel for the Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society (keep watch for JTAS #17 this coming year!) I realized that spaceships could coast for the majority of an interplanetary voyage, taking about as long as a typical interstellar voyage in Traveller and using comparable amounts of fuel. And if you’ve seen The Expanse you’ll know that a single star system with nuclear propulsion may have dozens, if not hundreds, of populated planetoids.

If a star system is still too small for your players, they can re-discover a wormhole to another system. Or salvage a prototype ship with gravity drives capable of relativistic travel, it might take years to reach another star from the perspective of those left behind, but it’ll only feel like weeks to the characters on board.

Keep watch for Salvaged Heroes: Wreckage of Empire, coming to Kickstarter in 2025 (hopefully).

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I've finished a first draft of my Cepheus Engine RPG based on my Para-Imperium setting, specifically set during the Horizon: Salvaged Heroes era.

The Cepheus Engine is based on Traveller, with straightforward 2D6+modifiers rolls and a lifepath system of character creation (I tried to make it less lethal), but under an open license.

Campaigns take place after the collapse of an interstellar empire, and focus on salvaging the wreckage it left behind. Something like a cross between Hardspace Shipbreaker, The Expanse, Lethal Company, and Isaac Asimov's Foundation.

Most characters will be the descendants of genetically engineered "parahumans" designed for colonizing space. I've created a system of traits and adaptations for building custom parahuman genotypes.

If that sounds interesting, you can check it out at my Patreon on https://www.patreon.com/posts/rpg-first-draft-117229171?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

I'm still working on the title. How does "Salvaged Heroes: Post-Apocalyptic Space Opera" sound?

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Instead of NaNoWriMo this year I'm participating in National Game Design Month and working on a tabletop RPG based on my Parahuman Space setting.

The rules are based on the Cepheus Engine, an open content fork of the long-standing sci-fi RPG Traveller. It's a fairly simple system reminiscent of the "most popular RPG" save that you roll 2d6 instead of 1d20 and you never get bloated with hit points, you stay a squishy mortal the whole campaign (I recommend some armor). You can read the full system reference document on this site but the final Parahuman Space RPG will include all the rules needed for play.

The RPG assumes campaigns set after the collapse of the Federation, and instead of the typical tramp trader or mercenary campaigns seen in Traveller the default campaign will be based around salvaging wrecked starships.

AKA "space dungeons."

Think Hardspace Shipbreaker or Lethal Company rather than Elite: Dangerous.

So far I have the character creation and skills chapters, which I've attached to my most recent Patreon post for patrons. I needed to come up with a system for genetic modification of parahuman characters, but the skills are mostly unchanged from the SRD save for removing all references to gravitic vehicles. I also set career mishaps to non-lethal by default ;) I intend to leave the Combat chapter mostly unchanged as well. Psionics, though, will be replaced with Technomagic while the Equipment chapter will need extensive work for augmentations.

Originally, I was planning to use a more "rules-light" system titled Faster Than Light: Nomad for this project, but the step system that used for building spaceships was not as conducive to tearing them apart for spare parts.

Eventually I intend to bring this project to Kickstarter, I'm hoping that if even if you decide not to subscribe to my Patreon you will throw a few bucks my way once it launches.

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I'll be running a panel on how to fit furries into your worldbuilding at Aquatifur in the Wisconsin Dells on Sunday, November 10th, at 10:30 am.

I'll also stream a rehearsal of the panel on Twitch today at 4:00 pm https://www.twitch.tv/zarpaulus

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Edit: Rescheduled to 4 due to gig work

With blocks no longer working I have decided to delete my Xitter account on Sunday. I've been on both Bluesky and Mastodon for a while and found them adequate substitutes.
Follow me at
https://bsky.app/profile/zarpaulus.bsky.social
https://wandering.shop/deck/@zarpaulus

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Streaming at 1:30 pm CDT/2:30 EDT today. Don't know what I'll stream, I'm open to suggestions https://www.twitch.tv/zarpaulus

I'll try to stream again at the same time on Wednesday and 7 CDT/8 EDT on Friday night.

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So, I've been streaming on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/zarpaulus in hopes that I'd be able to make some additional income until I get a new job (I might have a seasonal tax job lined up in January), but so far I haven't had enough viewers to merit subscribers or ads.

I've tried playing RimWorld on stream, I've tried writing, since I got my fursuit head I've tried streaming myself wearing it while I try to knit.

So tell, me, what would you be interested in?

You can check out my game list on my Steam profile https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198056785640/

I've also been considering learning Blender. It honestly reminds me a bit of my GIS work.

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Unfortunately I'm still unemployed, which means that I cannot afford to pay for new pages of Joanna: Ghost Hunter. I don't know when I'll be able to commission more.

But on the plus side, I have been talking to Fenris Publishing about getting the first fifty pages published in print and PDF. Stay subscribed for updates.

Also I've started a mailing list for fans who'd like to be updated as soon as possible. Just open https://joel-kreissmans-writing.mai.....himpsites.com/ and enter your email into the pop-up field.

And to make the mailing list more enticing, I'll send out the script to the second half of "Beasts and Bloodsuckers" to all subscribers on Wednesday.

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I've finally done what every author advice column says to do and created a mailing list.

I used Mailchimp because it doesn't have Substack's You-Know-Who problem and I figure that if I ever get so many subscribers I'll need to pay for it I'll be making enough money to afford the accounts.

https://joel-kreissmans-writing.mai.....himpsites.com/

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Once again I'm open for story commissions at a rate of $20USD per 1,000 words. Erotica and most kinks okay (no ABDL, cub, or zoo).

I'll also proofread and edit a story of up to 5,000 words for $20.

Contact me here or on Ko-Fi https://ko-fi.com/zarpaulek/commissions

I've also put up all of my self-published ebooks on Itch.io, I was hesitant before because it's so game-focused that even after I selected the book category it used video game terminology in building the profile. https://zarpaulus.itch.io/

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I finished my commission queue last week so I'm open for story comms again. My new rate is $20 per 1,000 words, rounded to the nearest thousand words, so if you want a shorter story than 5,000 words that is doable.

In addition I will be dealing and staffing at the Digital Villain Summit ( https://d-v-s.online/ ) this weekend, an online furry convention with a silly, supervillainous bent. I've attended DVS for multiple years but this is the first time I've staffed.

In honor of DVS, my Para-Imperium books will be half off on DriveThruFiction from August 29th to September 1st. https://www.drivethrufiction.com/br.....el%20Kreissman

If you were wondering about the price change, it's because I tried entering my commission income on my Unemployment claims but they wanted it in terms of wages per hour and the previous price was way below minimum wage. I can write between 400 and 800 words per hour so the new price amounts to roughly $10 per hour.

That is all.

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New episode of Tales of the Para-Imperium came out yesterday: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/para-imperial-tales/episodes/Horizon-Rebuilt-Ch--14-e2nho90
https://youtu.be/mE5g1vEOfrM?si=ZOPT08r3QTMF_M51
I streamed the YouTube recording Friday on https://www.twitch.tv/zarpaulus but forgot to plug in my mic for the first fifteen minutes.

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